Boxing

It’s a sleepy, overcast Monday morning in northeast Glendale. Symbolic of the setting outside the Glendale Civic Auditorium is the atmosphere inside it. Scattered workers buff the auditorium floors of an empty hall incurring the first stages of a transformation. No more than a handful of people occupy a structure that will play host in just a few days to the Jewel City’s first sanctioned boxing event in more than 60 years. It is inside these walls that Kahren Harutyunyan is still hard at work, days removed from making a year’s worth of effort finally come to fruition.

It’s “Rocky” for the real world. Kahren Harutyunyan, a champion boxer, has one night to prove himself in front of thousands of pumped fans at the Glendale Civic Auditorium in June. If the match goes wrong, Harutyunyan may be finished before his hometown crowd — except he won’t be one of the fighters in the ring. He’s the promoter burdened with the task of proving to Glendale that boxing isn’t a social detriment. Already, this is a more interesting plot than “Rockys” II, III, IV, V and VI — partly, of course, because the ending isn’t a given.

This is the first of a three-part feature story on the life and career of undefeated Glendale boxing phenom Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan. It will run in consecutive installments. Before the “Nightmare,” there was just a dream. The fame, honor and respect that Vanes Martirosyan has garnered as an amateur prodigy, a teenage Olympian and a professional boxing prospect, and the ultimate glory the fast-rising undefeated welterweight hopes to yet capture as a world title holder — it all started as a gleam in the eye of his father Norik Martirosyan.

A few days before he was scheduled to fight in his next boxing match, Art Hovhannesyan made a call to his mother in Armenia. It’s a call he’s made eight previous times in his professional boxing career, a conversation that lasted a few minutes and left his mom nervous about her son’s future in the ring. “You know how moms are,” Hovhannesyan, a Glendale resident, says. “She’ll be up, worrying.” His mom has been concerned about her son since he left his younger siblings, father and mother in 2006 to forge a new bloodline with fighters in the United States.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — On the eve of his professional boxing debut, Arthur Bernetsyan said all he was worried about was getting the win. And on Friday night at Glendale Glory 2 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, he did just that. Shortly after ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” broadcast ended with a thrilling middleweight bout that saw Roman Karmazin knock out Dionisio Miranda in the 10th round, Bernetsyan, fighting out of Glendale by way of Armenia, made his way to the ring.

GLENDALE — Having aided in the burgeoning careers of boxer Vanes Martirosyan and mixed martial artists Manny Gamburyan and Karen Darabedyan, among others, as a trainer, Roma Kalantaryan has always wanted to do more when it came to the fight game. And Kalantaryan, the proprietor of the Main Event Sports Club in Glendale, has teamed up with friend John Nemkerekyan to form King of the West Promotions, which will put on its first-ever fight card on Thursday at the Circus Disco in Hollywood when it presents “Rage Against the Ropes,” a hybrid fighting event that will feature both boxing and MMA. “I’m very excited,” said Kalantaryan, who will present a card that’s scheduled to feature six MMA fights and four boxing bouts with five fighters having local ties on the card.

GLENDALE — It’s been just over eight months since up-and-coming welterweight Vito “Casper” Gasparyan last fought, a span in which quite a bit has transpired. Gasparyan, who formerly trained at the Glendale Fighting Club, has had several fights canceled over the past months, all while putting down roots in a new gym with a new trainer. All systems are go for his latest scheduled fight, however, when the effects of the layoff from actual fighting, good or bad, and his recently formed affiliation with Fortune Gym in Los Angeles will become evident.

More than just another fighter training center, at a time when one seems to be springing up on every other corner, the Glendale Fighting Club has transcended that status and become a hub of activity and a touchstone of significance in the fighting scene, both near and far. The modest yet sparklingly clean and well-outfitted corner shop situated among rows of car dealerships on Brand Blvd. serves as the base of operations for two longtime friends, Edmond Tarverdyan and George Bastrmajyan, who together comprise one of the fastest rising grass-roots enterprises in training, management and promotions in the current landscape of combat sports.

To become a successful champion boxer, a tireless work ethic and a good heart are necessary according to Edmond 'The Diamond' Tarverdyan, a 29-year-old coach who started boxing as a boy before going on to train Olympians. “You gotta love the sport and train hard,” he said. “Of course being the best fighter takes much more than that. You need everything - balance speed power - so everything comes in place at the high level competition.” On a recent Thursday evening, Tarverdyan's amateur boxing students spent an hour at his Glendale Fighting Club conditioning their bodies with push-ups, sit ups and boxing technique.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — With the sport of boxing as a whole being showcased at Friday night’s Glendale Glory card, it was two Jewel City fighters that had the Glendale Civic Auditorium crowd the most captivated. With local promoter Kahren Harutyunyan’s event grabbing as much notice outside of the ring for being the first sanctioned prize-fighting card in the city in 62 years, Gapo “The Ghost” Tolmajyan and Art “Lionheart” Hovhannesyan gave the Glendale fans plenty to cheer about inside the ring.

Not long into the aftermath of his one-sided decision victory over Mario Alberto Lozano on March 21, Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan is already poised to return to the boxing ring. On Monday, it was announced by Goossen Tutor Promotions that Glendale's Martirosyan will return to action on May 10 at USC's Galen Center to face a to-be-announced opponent. The May 10 bout will be the second for Martirosyan (34-1-1, 21 knockouts) under the banner of promoter Dan Goossen and under the guise of trainer Joe Goossen.

CABAZON - With 36 pro fights to his name, Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan is no rookie. And while the 27-year-old Glendale resident, who's been fighting at the pro level since 2005, may be too established in his ways to ever reinvent himself completely, he's wholeheartedly embraced a theme of career rebirth. “There's a lot of things we're working on; it's a learning process,” Martirosyan said after battering Mario Alberto Lozano for 10 rounds en route to a unanimous decision to claim the vacant World Boxing Organization Intercontinental light middleweight title Friday night at Morongo Casino and Resort in Cabazon.

By the time he first got his new client in the gym, trainer Joe Goossen only had three weeks to get Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan ready for Friday night's title fight against Mario Alberto Lozano. Yet Goossen never had a sense the training camp was running behind schedule. "We accomplished a lot in that three weeks and the reason we were able to accomplish so much is because Vanes came to me in very good condition," Goossen said. "I think he had dedicated himself to getting physically fit to be ready to go fight and he spent a lot of time in the gym doing a lot of running, swimming and physical training outside the gym. It would have been much different if he were not working before he came to me, but because he was, it made the transition very easy.

VAN NUYS - Sitting on a chair, just outside his new “home,” Vanes Martirosyan reflected on his past, his dedication to boxing and his future as a possible champion. Seven times while sitting down and answering questions from reporters during Tuesday's media session at Ten Goose Boxing Gym, the Glendale resident talked about giving “100%.” He mentioned his stint with Top Rank Promotions, which included 32 consecutive wins that started his career, but ended shortly after Demetrius Andrade handed Martirosyan a decision loss in November in the local's first-ever world championship opportunity.

A sheriff's bomb squad was called to investigate a hand grenade, which was found Friday inside a box donated to the Goodwill thrift shop in Glendale, police said. An employee found the hand grenade just before 4 p.m. while sifting through boxes donated to the thrift store in the 1600 block of West Glenoaks Boulevard, Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. The employee notified police, who evacuated the building. At 5:07 p.m., the bomb squad took posession of the grenade and the item was rendered safe, according to Sgt. Ernesto Gaxiola with the Glendale Police Department.

Glendale officials are seeking proposals from artists who want to paint murals on 26 utility boxes to brighten up downtown Glendale. Painting the utility boxes would be the first step in a $1.4 million plan to make Glendale more arts-friendly like other cities such as Santa Monica and Pasadena. The city is on a mission to shake its reputation as boring, an effort that began with a new branding campaign approved a few years ago and a revived downtown plan that has ushered in numerous hip apartment projects.

Lights Out Promotions' hybrid combats sports series will return to the Hollywood Park and Casino on Saturday for “Chaos at the Casino 3.” Former “The Ultimate Fighter” contestant Sevak Magakian of Glendale will fight in the mixed-martial-arts main event against another former Ultimate Fighter, Chris Saunders, on a card that features MMA, boxing and muay Thai kickboxing. Magakian, who trains at Team Hayastan and Main Event Sports Club in Glendale, is 13-5-1, while Saunders is 10-5.

Ahead of his long-waited and first-ever world championship opportunity, Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan said he would pressure opponent Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade. Pressure might have been the game plan, but it was Andrade who dictated the tempo as the far more active fighter on Saturday night, pumping his right jab and using his range and activity to take a split decision over Glendale's Martirosyan at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX. as part of an “HBO Boxing” triple header.

Six years later and 14 pounds heavier, Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan finally got his rematch with Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire. Unfortunately, though the fight played out much differently, it ended the same way, as Donaire's left hook led him to victory, as the fight was stopped at the 2:06 mark of the ninth round Saturday night in Corpus Christi, TX. as part of an “HBO Boxing” triple header. A pair of big left hooks sandwiched around a straight right led to Donaire (32-2, 21 knockouts)

A day ahead of their respective blockbuster bouts Saturday on HBO in Corpus Christi, Texas, both Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan and Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan made weight, but it didn't go without incident, at least not in the case of Martirosyan and opponent Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade. During the obligatory stare down after Glendale's Martirosyan and Andrade hit weight, the two exchanged in a heated confrontation. After Martirosyan, who trains at the Wild Card Boxing Club and Main Event Gym in Glendale, weighed in and went to face off with Andrade, Andrade stepped in and pressed his nose to Martirosyan's.